The Screening Room

No new films opened up Friday, so no Monday Morning Movie Critic to speak of. So let's talk about something else.

In roughly 12-1/2 hours, it will be 2008. Just two years away from "the year we make contact" and just eight years away from replicants and blade runners. Hollywood - and the sci fi writers it adapts from - loves to postulate about our future. The 1999 of Strange Days bore little resemblance to any place I knew, and no scary monoliths popped up anywhere seven years ago. But hey, I'm still hoping for a future like the Jetsons. My perpetually tardy self could benefit from a bevy of machines to do everything for us.

So tell us: What's your favorite or hated cinematic look at The Future?

Where's the love for Josh? (Miramax)

I was fascinated with the movie No Country For Old Men from the very first scenes. With very little dialog, Josh Brolin gave a fantastic performance. It was as though he was born and raised in the West Texas desert country. For me, he, not "the killer," set the tone of the entire picture. Why do you think he wasn't nominated for an award? It reminds me a bit of Kurt Russell and the fact that he always gives a stellar performance (even in bad movies) with little or no recognition.

My response:
I think there may be a couple of things at work here. The biggest thing working against Brolin (and Tommy Lee Jones for that matter) is that No Country is film made up of a bunch of supporting players — really, there is no lead actor in the story. Brolin just doesn’t have as much work to do in the movie as, say, George Clooney in Michael Clayton or Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood. So if we can say that Jones, Brolin and Bardem are all sort of supporting players, Bardem has been getting the most buzz I think because his role is the showiest. He gets to kill people and be menacing. Brolin (and Jones) are much more internal. Now, I agree with you that it’s a lot more difficult to pull off the subtle performance. But unfortunately, subtlety isn’t usually what grabs the attention of awards voters.

I'm always here to help. sbecker@dallasnews.com

I'm starting to second-guess my confidence in Cate Blanchett's spot in the best actress field, though I have had her in the mix since I started my predicting. What's changed my thinking? I've been doing some heavy reading of theenvelope.com, the awards site run by the Los Angeles Times that puts all others to shame. On the site is a little section called The Buzzmeter, which polls various critics and insiders to see who they think will score the nominations. And let's just say the buzz isn't very good over there on Cate. The thinking, I think, is that she's a dead-solid lock for a supporting nomination for I'm Not There, and maybe Oscar voters want to spread the love a bit.
So who is the most likely candidate to replace Cate in the field? The smart money is on Keira Knightley from Atonement, but there also seems to be a swell of support for Amy Adams for Enchanted.
I suppose I would not be all that surprised to see both of them in the field, though I think with no Blanchett, Angelina Jolie will be able to fend either Adams or Knightley off.
What does it all mean? Julie Christie, Ellen Page and Marion Cotilliard are all still locks. The other two spots will come from some combination of Blanchett, Jolie, Knightley and Adams. If i had to pick today, I'd go with Jolie and Knightley for the final two.

No new movies hit the screen today, but we've still got your film fix. Chris Vognar and Stephen Becker name their picks for the top 10 flicks of 2007. Did they get it right, or totally miss the mark? Share your picks and pans.

Read more observations from 2007:
Year in Review
The best of the best from Dallasnews.com and The Dallas Morning News

Doubling up
National Treasure: Book of Secrets smartly went with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach, sticking with its established kid-friendly brand of action moviemaking on its way to a $45 million opening weekend and the top spot at the box office. That figure is $10 million more than what the 2004 original brought in, and that film went on to make $173 million domestically.

Showtimes and review: Read Chris Vognar's review of the film

Video: Watch the trailer

Story: Q&A with Tracy Phillips

Story: Charlie Wilson says film does him justice

Story: 'Good Time Charlie' a fun-loving breed extinct in today's Congress

Video: Charlie Wilson campaign ads

Like Christmas dinner at Grandma's, this weekend's cinematic lineup has more to offer than you can possibly consume (well, you could try). Eight films open today, with five more coming on Christmas Day. And it's a pretty wide assortment: we've got comedy (Walk Hard, B); romance (P.S. I Love You, C); dysfunctional family drama (The Savages, B); adventure for the whole family (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, C); a comically serious history (Charlie Wilson's War, B); a Byzantine mine field (Youth Without Youth, D); a musical gore fest (Sweeney Todd, B+); and Blonde Ambition.

But if none of those hit your holiday sweet spot, head over to the Angelikas (Dallas or Plano) Sunday-Tuesday for a stroll down memory lane with screenings of It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

Which leads us to the question du jour: What's your favorite, tried and true holiday movie?

I don't need no stinkin' SAG: No love for Denzel (Universal Pictures)

Some big surprises:

Wonder if Santa will bring me a Dewey Cox record? (Columbia Pictures)

If you find yourself out battling the holiday shopping crowds tonight, why not head to the theaters at midnight to get an early look at this week's new films? Four of the eight new releases have midnight showings:

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Then head back here and tell the rest of us slackers what you thought.

Mr. Smith goes to the bank
Question: Why was New York City abandoned in I Am Legend? Answer: Everyone was in the theater watching the movie. Legend pulled in an astronomical $77 million in its opening weekend, good for the largest December haul ever. The previous record had been held since 2003 by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Ben Stiller as J.R. Ewing? Say it ain't so. But the New York Post's Page Six is saying yup, it might be. Travolta is out, and Mr. Zoolander might be in. Stiller is funny and all, but J.R.? What would Sue Ellen say?

Peter Jackson has signed on to executuve produce the much-hoped-for movie version of The Hobbit, which will serve as a prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. He hasn't, however, signed on to direct, so think of that what you will.
It's a wonder this came together at all as Jackson and New Line had a falling out after the Rings trilogy was complete. But money has a strange way of patching up old wounds.
The plan is for two Hobbit movies to be shot simultaneously (as the Rings films were shot) with planned release dates in 2010 and 2011. So you've got a couple years to get caught up on the book.

Could someone, anyone, name a movie besides No Country for Old Men the best of 2007? Now it's the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association's turn. Congrats to the Coens. This is the one that really counts.

The rest, in order of preference:

2.Juno
3. There Will be Blood
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton
6. Into the Wild
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
8. The Kite Runner
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by etc.etc.
10. Charlie Wilson's War

Other DFW winners:

Best actor: Daniel Day Lewis, There Will be Blood
Best actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem, No Country
Best supporting actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best director(s) - The Coen Brothers, No Country
Best documentary: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Best foreign language film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best animated film: Ratatouille

To get some pub for the release of The Simpsons Movie on DVD Tuesday, teams of Simpson elves will be handing out free yellow Simpsons’ Santa hats at an area mall on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Which mall, you ask? It’s supposed to be a secret, but the clue from Fox is “a mall closest to the ‘North’ pole.” Our advice — maybe you should go ‘Park’ there.

It's surprising that there are actually any snubs here, as the HFAA has no limit on how many nominees it will name in a given category. But the following people may have slammed down their coffe cups this morning after not hearing their names called:
Tommy Lee Jones -- This was maybe the biggest shocker, as the Texan gave two of his finest performances this year in No Country for Old Men and In the Valley of Elah. Look for this situation to right itself come Oscars time.
Brad Pitt -- Apparently winning best actor for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford at the Venice Film Festival doesn't carry a lot of weight these days. At least the Coward Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) scored a much-deserved nom.
Judd Apatow -- How could the funniest movie of the year (Knocked-Up) and second-funniest movie (Superbad) not break intot the best picture, musical or comedy category? Apatow directed Knocked-up and produced Superbad. And to make matters worse, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was also left out of the field. At least John C. Reilly was named in the best actor, comedy, field.

First off, let's acknowledge that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is not about making tough choices. For starters, there are different categories for drama and comedy or musical. But on top of that, why limit the number of nominees in each category to five when you can just nominate everyone? That seems to have been the thinking in the best picture, drama, category, as seven films will compete. Those films are: American Gangster, Atonement, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. The HFPA kept the musical or comedy category to the tradional five with Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray, Juno, Sweeney Todd.
Some of you may be scratching your heads at seeing Charlie Wilson's War named in the category comedy. Afterall, isn't this a film about the U.S.'s role in helping Afghanistan defeat the invating Russians in the 1980s? Well, yes, but it happens to be a funny movie about that time period. I know -- I was as surprised as you when I saw it.

Denzel Washington in The Weinstein Company's The Great Debaters

To judge a book by its cover (or a movie by its trailer), I'd definitely give it my $8 — and not just to keep from seeing its opening day competitor, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.

According to IMDb.com, this will be Mr. Washington's 45th movie role. So talk: Which of those 45 roles did you like best? Or are you a rebel and want to vote for his days on St. Elsewhere?

Pointing south
Some films benefit from a little controversy, and some are The Golden Compass. The fantasy film based on a series of books by noted atheist Philip Pullman won the weekend with $25.8 million but fell well below expectations.

A man and his dog at the end of the world (Warner Bros)

You know those cheap B horror movies that get by on camp? Think that, without the camp. Matheson hated the final product so much he wanted his name taken off the credits. When told that would mean no residuals, he opted for a pseudonym, Logan Swanson. The things you can learn by watching DVDs these days.

That said, there have been a number of fine "end of the world as we know it" movies over the years, including 2002's 28 Days Later and 1975's A Boy and His Dog. Anyone in blog land have a favorite doomsday yarn? Or are the memories too traumatic to recall? (All that canned food can drive a person mad).

Go fly a Kite this Friday (Paramount Vantage)

At first glance Atonement would seem to have nothing in common with The Kite Runner, opening this Friday. But as that clever American Beauty campaign once said, look closer. Both films revolve around childhood shame, adult redemption and the power of the written word, with fiction writers trying to atone for selfish acts. Kite Runner doesn't have those rythmically clickety-clacking typewriter keys, to which we say good for it. Look for our sitdown with Kite star Khalid Abdalla this Thursday at Guidelive.com.

It was a touchstone of '80s pop culture (for better of worse), and now Urban Cowboy will earn a spot in the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Debra Winger will accept the honors March 7 in Austin. Other new HOF inductees include El Paso native Thomas Haden Church and Jayne Mansfield (hubba hubba), whose daughter, Law and Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, will accept on her behalf.

Gener8Xion Entertainment

And hey, if you do go see it, come back here and tell me what you thought.

Critical upbringing: Baumbach on the Margot set (Paramount Vantage)

Baumbach, whose Margot at the Wedding opens today, is the spawn of former Village Voice film critic Georgia Brown and critic/novelist Jonathan Baumbach. (Their divorce was the inspiration for his previous film, The Squid and the Whale). Though he emphasizes that both parental units were also fiction writers - and that Brown is not the inspiration for the abysmal mothering of Margot (played by Nicole Kidman) - he does recall a whole lot of movie talk around the house.

"I never thought of it as living with film critics," he says by phone. "They were movie lovers and book lovers. There was just a lot of interesting stuff available if I was up to it. That was definitely a fun aspect of our family. We’d see a movie and talk about it at dinner and come up with what we thought would be better or what we loved about it. If one of us saw a movie that the other hadn’t it was always pleasurable to tell the others about it. The delight taken in movies in my family certainly had a major influence on me."

IMAX and AMC theaters have struck a deal to install 100 IMAX screens in 33 markets around the country, and one of them is coming here. The Mesquite 30 will be the home to the area's newest gigantic screen, which should be in place by June 2008. That means it will be ready just in time for the animted Kung-Fu Panda and The Dark Knight, the next installment of the Batman franchise -- both of which will be shown on IMAX screens.

Amazon.com

You'd have to be VERY good this year to get Santa to drop this off at your house. The Warner Mega Classics Collection (released last year) boasts a staggering ... actually, I have no idea how many. And I refuse to count.

It pretty looks like what I imagine the Turner Classic Movies channel vault looks like. Or at least, reminds me of the video store from my childhood. I was pretty addicted to the classics section (only 99 cents to rent!) and American Movie Classics channel (back in the day before TCM). I don't know when I'd ever have time to watch all of these or even store them, but if that's what Santa drops down my chimney, I'd say I've done pretty good.

Want the full list? Click below to keep reading. But I can say that it includes my all-time favorite, Now Voyager. (Movies I've seen in bold. Because I can.)

For those of you who may be concerned about an anti-religion message in The Golden Compass, it might make you feel better to read this review from the Catholic News Service. The most telling passage of the review:
Most moviegoers with no foreknowledge of the books or Pullman's personal belief system will scarcely be aware of religious connotations, and can approach the movie as a pure fantasy-adventure. This is not the blatant real-world anti-Catholicism of, say, the recent "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" or "The Da Vinci Code." Religious elements, as such, are practically nil.

Sleeping through the weekend
Moviegoers turned their attention to holiday shopping during the typically slow post-Thanksgiving weekend. Awake — the only new wide-release movie to pick from — managed just a fifth-place finish and $5.8 million, and the Disney fantasy Enchanted retained the top spot with $16.4 million, bringing its total to $70 million.

Smile, you won: Javier Bardem looms large in No Country (Miramax)

The rest of the NBR list, in alphabetical order:

One of Quick's online movie reviewers is up for a pretty big prize given out by VH1. Read all about it over on Quick's blog here.

Paramount Pictures

It wins with me because I never once got bored or lost or felt compelled to roll my eyes. My one complaint:

The black suitcase-shaped box arrived on my desk with a heavy thud. Ford at Fox, a handsome collection of 24 films directed by John Ford for 20th Century Fox, comes with its own coffee table book of photos and poster art. After you watch the films you can use the set to do curls.

Say "Marvin": This Christmas (Screen Gems)

I was happy to see This Christmas stay pretty strong at the box office this weekend with $8.4 million (making a two-week total of $37 million). I went to see it last Thursday for my family movie story and was thoroughly entertained, not to mention impressed with the script's ability to juggle a big ensemble of characters. But the cherry on top for me was the closing sequence in which the entire cast steps out of character, one by one, and cuts a rug to Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up. It's one of my fave R&B cuts, and it seems to work particular well in movies: It was also featured very effectively in the first Barbershop. "I used to go out to parties/And stand around": No standing around to that groove.